Protecting the paint on a new car

[Chris Stott]

I've got a new company car coming in a few weeks time. Due to using my extras allowance to upgrade to leather/electic seats and the single non-metallic colour option offered by the manufacturer, the car will be solid dark grey.

It's been a while since I had a dark coloured car (last few have been various shades of silver), but I do remember how difficult it was to keep the paint in decent condition, particularly if you let it get in a bad state in the first place.

I know the car is going to get stone chips and there's not a lot I can do to prevent this on a car covering >40k miles a year, primarily on motorways, and I know the basic rules of 'detailing' for on-going care, but I wondered if there was anything I could specifically do when I first get the car to help prevent things like dead insect residue and water spots?

[bunyarra]

This gets some very good reviews - self-healing paint protection film. Not cheap but highly rated by quite a few detailing pros on detailingworld.co.uk

http://www.paintshield.co.uk/ultimate-paint-protec...

[Chris Stott]

Sorry, I should have said... I could have chipped in £500 myself for metallic if I'd wanted to, but I didn't... so I'm not looking to spend a fortune on wraps/paint films/etc.

[Mermaid]

Bra? seriously 40k motorways miles will do stone chip damage regardless unless you travel at night, and stay well behind other cars.

It is a company car - get them to respray the front if necessary.

[Gixer]

bunyarra said:

This gets some very good reviews - self-healing paint protection film. Not cheap but highly rated by quite a few detailing pros on detailingworld.co.uk

http://www.paintshield.co.uk/ultimate-paint-protec...

Have it on my car. People don't believe me when I say it's filmed and have to go and have a closer look. It is weird stuff, especially after a wash. I now just wash and dry it and ignore any scratches, marks or any other weird blemishes - they always go once the film has finished doing its thing.

As already said its not cheap but it's nice knowing there's something extra there protecting the car from chips. Highly recamend Tom at Paintshield too.

[Chris Stott]

I know I'll get stone chips around the front end... can't really avoid that at the mileage the car will cover.

But I'd like to try and prevent general swirling and surface marks over the rest of the panels.

[VWAUDI]

To prevent swirling and scratches wash using a good quality mitt, two buckets with grit guards and good washing practice.

Apply a decent wax which will allow most of the dirt to wash off easily.

Paint will get scratched over time whatever you do, though you can polish it out with a machine polish every so often.

I don't think it's realistically possible to protect a car from any marks if it's in day to day use - its inevitable. You can re-act when the paint has swirled though.